A pre-drive circuit with an output buffer that may contain a bootstrap circuit is described. The bootstrap circuit may be configured to output a voltage level greater in magnitude than the supply voltage that the bootstrap circuit is coupled with. The pre-drive circuit may contain a timing circuit. The timing circuit may be configured to at least partially determine when the bootstrap circuit outputs a voltage greater in magnitude than the supply voltage. The pre-drive circuit may also contain a pre-drive buffer circuit. This pre-drive buffer circuit may be capable of three outputs: (1) logical zero, or roughly electrical ground; (2) logical one, or roughly the level of the voltage supply, and (3) an outputted voltage greater than the voltage supply.
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17. A method comprising:
generating a delayed signal in response to an input signal;
providing a first voltage level to a node in response to a first control signal based on the input signal;
providing a second voltage level to the node in response to a second control signal based on the input signal and the delayed signal; and
boosting the voltage level of the node from the second voltage level to a bootstrapped voltage level in response to a third control signal based on the delayed signal.
19. An apparatus comprising:
means for generating a delayed signal in response to an input signal;
means for providing a first voltage level to a node in response to a first control signal based on the input signal;
means for providing a second voltage level to the node in response to a second control signal based on the input signal and the delayed signal; and
means for boosting the voltage level of the node from the second voltage level to a bootstrapped voltage level in response to a third control signal based on the delayed signal.
1. A circuit comprising:
a timing circuit configured to generate a delayed signal in response to an input signal;
a first pre-drive buffer portion configured to provide a first voltage level to a node in response to a first control signal based on the input signal and the delayed signal; and
a second pre-drive buffer portion configured to provide a second voltage level to the node in response to a second control signal based on the input signal; and
a bootstrap circuit configured to boost the voltage level of the node from the first voltage level to a bootstrapped voltage level in response to a third control signal based on the input signal.
4. The circuit of
5. The circuit of
6. The circuit of
8. The circuit as recited in
9. The circuit of
10. The circuit of
11. The circuit of
an input portion coupled to generate a signal in response to a first control signal, a second control signal, and the input signal,
wherein the timing circuit is coupled to receive the signal from the input portion and further coupled to generate the delayed signal based on the signal received from the input portion.
12. The circuit as recited in
13. The circuit as recited in
14. The circuit as recited in
15. The circuit as recited in
16. The circuit as recited in
18. The method, as recited in
causing the node to float in response to the first control signal and the second control signal,
wherein the voltage level is boosted to the bootstrapped voltage level while the node floats.
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This Application claims the benefit of and is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/166,076, filed on Apr. 2, 2009, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to circuits in general and, in particular, to output buffer circuits.
In electrical circuits, an output buffer may be used to isolate an input signal from an output signal. This may prevent the input signal from adversely affecting other circuits that the output signal interacts with. Further, the input signal may be weak. An output buffer may provide a stronger output signal, capable of driving a capacitive load. In some situations, the maximum output voltage of an output buffer is equal to the input voltage less the threshold voltage of the electrical device used to create the buffer. For example, such a situation may arise when the output buffer is a CMOS buffer, with the pull-up device of the driver circuit being an NMOS transistor. In such situations, the maximum output voltage is lower than the input voltage. In some situations, an increased output voltage may be desirable. For example, if the maximum output voltage is reduced, there may not be enough of a voltage swing—the difference between the high output voltage and the low output voltage—to properly interface with another circuit.
In some low power applications, a 0.8V output swing from a differential clock circuit may be desired. However, a traditional output buffer architecture may not create a large enough voltage swing for a functional differential clock signal when a lower voltage supply is used. For example, a nominal 1.5V power supply may have an output voltage as low as 1.4V. Such a situation may leave only 0.5V for the differential output swing.
Since the use of a low voltage supply may be desirable, a new design of output buffers is described that may allow for a low voltage supply to power the device, yet may create an output swing voltage greater than is possible using a standard circuit architecture.
Devices, systems, and methods are described for a novel output buffer architecture. A pre-drive circuit may be integrated with an output buffer to achieve greater output voltage swings between the high and low outputted voltages. The pre-drive circuit's output may be greater than the supply voltage used to power both circuits due to capacitive charge coupling.
Therefore, in one embodiment of the output buffer, a pre-drive circuit with an integrated bootstrap circuit is described. The bootstrap circuit may be connected to a supply voltage. The bootstrap circuit may be configured to output a voltage level greater in magnitude than the supply voltage. The pre-drive circuit may also include a timing circuit. The timing circuit may be configured to at least partially determine when the bootstrap circuit outputs a voltage greater in magnitude than the supply voltage. The pre-drive circuit may also include a pre-drive buffer circuit. This pre-drive buffer circuit may be capable of three outputs: (1) logical zero, or roughly electrical ground; (2) logical one, or roughly the level of the voltage supply, and (3) an outputted voltage greater than the voltage supply.
In some embodiments, the timing circuit is a delay circuit. The delay circuit may be comprised of a series of logic gates, possibly buffers or inverters. In some embodiments, the output of the pre-drive buffer circuit may be coupled to a driver circuit. The driver circuit may be coupled to the gate of a MOSFET. The output of the pre-drive buffer circuit may be a buffered clock signal.
In some embodiments of the invention, an output buffer circuit is described. The output buffer may include a bootstrap circuit, coupled with the supply voltage, configured to output a voltage level greater in magnitude than the supply voltage. The output buffer may include a timing circuit, coupled with the bootstrap circuit, configured to at least partially determine when the bootstrap circuit outputs a voltage greater in magnitude than the supply voltage. The output buffer may include a pre-drive buffer circuit, coupled with the bootstrap circuit and the supply voltage configured to have at least three output states. The first state may be a state where the output of the pre-drive buffer circuit is coupled to electrical ground. The second state may be a state where the output of the pre-drive buffer circuit is coupled to the supply voltage. The third state may be a state where the output of the pre-drive buffer circuit is greater than the supply voltage. The output buffer may include a driver circuit coupled with the output of the pre-drive buffer circuit.
In some embodiments of the invention, a method for creating in a circuit a pre-drive voltage greater in magnitude than the circuit's supply voltage is described. The method may include receiving an input signal. The input signal's voltage may vary in magnitude. The method may include delaying the input signal, thereby creating a delayed input signal. The method may include generating an increased voltage signal, wherein the increased voltage signal is at least periodically greater in magnitude than the circuit's supply voltage. The method may also include generating an output signal using the input signal, the delayed input signal, and the increased voltage signal, wherein the output signal is at least periodically greater in magnitude than the supply voltage of the circuit.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a second label that distinguishes among the similar components.
Devices, systems, and methods are described for the implementation of a novel architecture for an output buffer with a pre-drive circuit to output an increased swing voltage.
This description provides example embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention. Rather, the ensuing description of the embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing embodiments of the invention. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Thus, various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add, various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, it should be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, the methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and that various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner.
It should also be appreciated that the following systems, methods, and software may individually or collectively be components of a larger system, wherein other procedures may take precedence over or otherwise modify their application. Also, a number of steps may be required before, after, or concurrently with the following embodiments.
In some embodiments, an output buffer may be used to isolate an input signal from an output signal. This may prevent other circuits that the output signal connects to from affecting the input signal. The input signal may be weak. An output buffer may provide a stronger output signal, possibly capable of driving a capacitive load. In traditional output buffers, the maximum output voltage may be no greater than the input voltage reduced by the threshold voltage of the electrical device used to create the buffer. In such instances, the maximum output voltage may be lower than the input voltage. In some situations, this reduced output voltage may not be desirable. Therefore, a novel architecture for an output buffer integrated with a pre-drive circuit is described herein.
A pre-drive circuit may be integrated into an output buffer to create a greater output voltage swing. An output buffer with an integrated pre-drive circuit may be used as a clock buffer. Generally, this novel output buffer may be used to increase the maximum output voltage (and, thus, the voltage swing) from the output buffer. For example, to reduce power consumption, future ultra-mobile personal computers may rely on low voltage power supplies, such as 1.5V, for clock generators. An output from a clock generator may need roughly a 0.8V swing between the logical low and logical high values of the output, to properly interface with other circuits. An output buffer integrated with a pre-drive circuit may output a large enough voltage swing to properly interface with other circuits.
In some embodiments, the output buffer may be two transistors integrated with a pre-drive circuit 180.
The gate of transistor 110 may be connected with the output 150 of the pre-drive circuit 180. The output 150 of the pre-drive circuit 180 may be referred to as VPU. The gate of transistor 120 may be connected with the output of a circuit similar to pre-drive circuit 180. In some embodiments, the gate of transistor 120 may be connected with the output of traditional CMOS logic circuitry. Signal 160 may connect to the gate of the second transistor 120. The signal 160 may be referred to as VPN. VPN may be created by a second input logic circuit 195. Second input logic circuit may be similar to pre-drive circuit 180, may be a clock generator, or may be some other circuit. Output 170 of the output buffer 100 may be the connection between the source of the first transistor 110 and the drain of the second transistor 120. The output 170 of the output buffer 100 may be connected to another circuit on the same integrated circuit chip, or it may be routed to an output pin of the integrated circuit chip and routed to some other integrated circuit chip or device.
The voltage level of VPU 150 and the signal 160 determine what the voltage may be on output 170. The voltage of the output 170 may be determined by the following formula: VOH=VPU−VTN. The threshold voltage (VTN) of a NMOS MOSFET, such as transistor 110, connected to voltage supply 130 may be 0.9V. Therefore, as VPU increases, output 170 may also increase.
The pre-drive circuit 180 may create a voltage on VPU 150 greater in magnitude than the voltage of the voltage supply 130.
The input signal 210 may be connected to a pre-drive buffer circuit 240. The pre-drive buffer circuit 240 may include logic circuitry. In the illustrated embodiment, the pre-drive buffer circuit 240 may include transistors and logic circuits. The transistors of the pre-drive buffer circuit 240 may be MOSFETs.
The input signal 210 may also be connected to a timing circuit 220. In the illustrated embodiment, the timing circuit 220 may be a delay circuit. The output of the timing circuit 220 may be the input signal 210 after a time delay. In some embodiments, the timing circuit 220 consists of logic circuitry, such as buffers or inverters. In some embodiments, a combination of logic circuits may be used to create the delay. The output signal of the timing circuit 220 may be a time-delayed and inverted input signal 210. In some embodiments, a long trace may be the timing circuit 220. The timing circuit 220 may connect to the pre-drive buffer circuit 240 and a bootstrap circuit 230.
The bootstrap circuit 230 may be capable of outputting a voltage greater than the voltage of the voltage supply it is connected to. Bootstrap circuit 230 may be connected to voltage supply 260. The bootstrap circuit 230 may output a voltage greater than the voltage of voltage supply 260. The bootstrap circuit 230 may include logic circuits and a device capable of capacitive charge sharing. In the illustrated embodiment, the bootstrap 230 circuit may include an inverter and a NMOS MOSFET. The timing circuit 220 may at least partially determine when the bootstrap circuit 230 is outputting a voltage greater than the voltage of voltage supply 260. The output of the bootstrap circuit 230 may be connected to the pre-drive buffer circuit 240.
The pre-drive buffer circuit 240 may be connected to the input signal 210, the timing circuit 220, and the bootstrap circuit 230. The pre-drive buffer circuit 240 may generate three output voltage levels: (1) logical zero, which may substantially be electrical ground; (2) logical one, which may substantially be the voltage of the voltage supply 260; and (3) a voltage greater in magnitude than the voltage of the voltage supply 260. The pre-drive buffer circuit 240 may include logic circuitry and transistors. In some embodiments, the transistors may be MOSFETs. The pre-drive buffer circuit 240 may produce an output signal 250. The output signal 250 may be any of the three values described in relation to the output of the pre-drive buffer circuit 240. The output signal 250 may be output signal 150 of pre-drive circuit 180 in
Some embodiments of a pre-drive circuit may include additional circuitry.
The control signals 360 and 370 may be signals from another circuit on the integrated circuit chip, or they may be routed to the control logic circuit 340 from outside of the integrated circuit chip. The control signals 360 and 370 may be active high or active low. In the illustrated embodiment, the control signals 360 and 370 represent logic values. In some embodiments, control signal 360 having a logical value of ‘0’ may result in the control logic circuit 340 causing the pre-drive buffer circuit 350 to remain in a particular state, such as connecting the output driver signal 380 to electrical ground. In the illustrated embodiment, the second control signal 370 having a logical value of ‘0’ may result in the control logic circuit 340 causing the output 380 to float.
In the illustrated embodiment, the pre-drive circuit 300 of
The drive circuit 480 may have a second input. This input may be connected to a second input logic circuit 490. Second input logic circuit 490 may be similar to a pre-drive circuit of
Each of the block diagram illustrations of the pre-drive circuits in
The output from the timing circuit 550 may be connected to the pre-drive buffer circuit 570 and the bootstrap circuit 580. In the illustrated embodiment, the pre-drive buffer circuit 570 includes two NAND gates, 570-1 and 570-2, and two MOSFETs, 570-3 and 570-4. In the illustrated embodiment, the first MOSFET 570-3 may be a PMOS MOSFET, and the second MOSFET 570-4 may be an NMOS MOSFET. The pre-drive buffer circuit 570 may be the pre-drive buffer circuit of
The output signal 560 of pre-drive circuit 500 may have three states: (1) the logical value may be ‘0’, which may be substantially electrical ground; (2) the logical value may be ‘1’, which may be substantially the voltage supply level; and (3) where the output signal 560 may be at a voltage level above the voltage supply level. A description of each state follows.
In this first state, the input signal 510 may be logically ‘0’, and has been for longer than the length of the delay in the timing circuit 550. The output of the delay circuit may be a logical ‘1’, because of the odd number of inverters. The NAND gate 570-1 may output a ‘1’, causing PMOS MOSFET 570-3 to be open. Likewise, NAND gate 570-2 may output a ‘1’, causing NMOS MOSFET 570-4 to be closed. Therefore, the output 560 may be tied to electrical ground through 570-4.
For a period of time after the input signal 510 transitions from ‘0’ to ‘1’, the value of the input signal 510 and the output of the delay circuit may not be the same. The input signal 510 may be ‘1’ and the output of timing circuit 550 may also be ‘1’. Therefore, the output of the NAND gate 570-1 may be ‘0’. This may cause the PMOS MOSFET 570-3 to be closed, and may connect the output 560 to the voltage supply 595. The output of NAND 570-2 may also be ‘0’, therefore NMOS MOSFET 570-4 may be open.
After a time, the input signal 510 may have propagated through the timing circuitry 550, and the output from the timing circuit 550 may be ‘0’. At this time, the output of the NAND 570-1 may change to ‘1’. Both 570-3 and 570-4 may then be open, leaving the output 560 floating. The logical ‘0’ output of the timing circuit 550 may cause the output of inverter 580-1 be logical ‘1.’ The capacitive charge effect on MOSFET 580-2 may cause the voltage on the floating output 560 to be increased. In some embodiments, an increase of 200 mV may occur on the output 560; in other embodiments, the output voltage may be increased by 300 mV. Greater or smaller increases of voltage may also be possible in some embodiments. The amount of increase in the output voltage and the capacitance of MOSFET 580-2 may be adjusted by changing the size and design of MOSFET 580-2, as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
When the input signal 510 transitions from ‘1’ to ‘0’, the timing circuit 550 may not affect the output. Once the input signal 510 is a logical zero, an input to each of NANDs 570-1 and 570-2 may be ‘0’ with the output from both gates 570-1 and 570-2 being ‘1’. This results in PMOS MOSFET 570-3 being open, and NMOS MOSFET 570-4 being closed. Accordingly, output 560 may be tied to electrical ground.
Not pictured in
A pre-drive circuit, such as pre-drive circuit 500, or any of the other previously described pre-drive circuits, may be implemented as part of a larger circuit.
The output from drive circuit 690 may be connected to other circuitry 670. This other circuitry 670 may be part of circuit 600 or may be part of a different circuit. Other circuitry 670 may be located on a different circuit board or integrated circuit chip than circuit 600. Other circuitry 670 may use the output from drive circuit 690 as a clock signal.
The pre-drive circuits of
At block 715, one or more control signals may be received by the output buffer. The one or more control signals may be received at the same time or a different time from when input signal 710 was received. Such control signals may be the STOPB 520 and TRIB 530 signals of
At block 730, the input signal, after the one or more control signals have been applied, may be delayed for an amount of time to create a delayed input signal. Such a delay may be generated by using a series of inverters or buffers. For example, as shown in
At block 740, an increased voltage signal may be generated. Such an increased voltage signal may be generated from the delayed input signal as an input. Such an increased voltage signal may be created by circuitry that is capable of generating a voltage level greater in magnitude than the supply voltage it is connected to. For example, bootstrap circuit 580 of
At block 750, a pre-drive output signal may be created. This pre-drive output signal may periodically or intermittently be greater in magnitude than the supply voltage. To generate the pre-drive output signal, one or more control signals (which may be the same or different from the controls signal(s) applied at block 720), the input signal, the delayed input signal, and/or the increased voltage signal may be used. For example, pre-drive buffer circuit 570 of
At block 760, a second input signal may be received. This second input signal may be received at the same time or at a different time from when the input signal was received at block 710. This second input signal may represent a clock signal, another pre-drive output signal, or some other signal.
At block 770, the second input signal and the pre-drive output signal may be used to generate a drive signal 770. Such a drive signal may be generated by a drive circuit, such as drive circuit 190 of
At block 780, the drive signal may be outputted to some other circuitry. This other circuitry, such as other circuitry 670 of
The output signal of the pre-drive buffer may remain in this state until the input signal changes to a logical ‘1.’ At block 820, the input signal may change to ‘1.’ At this time, the input signal may not yet have propagated through the delay circuit. This may cause the output of the pre-drive buffer to be tied to the voltage supply instead of ground. Again, referring to the embodiment of
Once the delayed input signal has propagated, at block 830, the output of the pre-drive buffer may float. Referring to
This increased voltage may remain on the output of the pre-drive buffer until the input changes state to a logical ‘0.’ This may cause the output to be tied to ground and return to block 810 and repeat the process.
It should be noted that changing the state of any of the control signals may cause the output of the pre-drive buffer to change to a particular state at any point during method 800 regardless of the state of the input signal, delayed input signal, and/or the increased voltage signal.
It should be noted that the methods, systems, and devices discussed above are intended merely to be examples. It must be stressed that various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, it should be appreciated that, in alternative embodiments, the methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and that various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Also, it should be emphasized that technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and should not be interpreted to limit the scope of the invention.
Specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.
Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flow diagram or block diagram. Although each may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps not included in the figure.
Having described several embodiments, it will be recognized by those of skill in the art that various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the above elements may merely be a component of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the invention. Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Accordingly, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.
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